//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: On The Edge // Story: The Ultimate Sacrifice // by DarkWolf //------------------------------// Chapter 13: On The Edge A knock at the door interrupted the unnatural silence that filled most of the house. Some conversations would start up between a few of the ponies, but most remained quiet, trying to comprehend the events that had transpired over the course of the past couple of days, especially the most recent one which almost claimed their lives. “I will get it.” Haybrun said as he got up from his seat in the kitchen and opened the door. He was met by another royal guard who was standing next to Spike. “Miss Sparkle! Your assistant is here, safe and sound!” He called up the stairs to the second floor. Almost instantly, she was down the stairs and at the door, grabbing Spike in her hooves. “Oh Spike, I was so worried about you!” She said with a tear in her eye. “Gezz, Twilight. It wasn’t that bad of an earthquake. It just knocked a couple of the shelves down. I was almost done picking them up when that guard came by saying I had to come with him to Sweet Apple Acres.” “I’m just glad you’re safe.” “Sir, I was given orders to remain here with you.” The guard said to Haybrun who was still standing in the doorway. “Very well, go outside and watch the perimeter with White Flash and Storm Breaker. “Yes, sir!” He said. With that, he trotted off to the side of the house. Almost immediately after Haybrun closed the front door, a shout came out from the room the group of humans were in. Haybrun trotted up and opened the door to see an argument taking place between them. “I told you! Leyonid would not do this!” “He was the only one in the woods! What the hell else was it?” “Is there a problem here?” Haybrun asked, causing the entire group to turn around with a start. “No sir, we are just having ourselves a conversation.” Grinch responded. “Yeah, I’m sure you are. Now, why don’t you tell me who this ‘Leyonid’ is?” After a few moments, Andrei was the one to speak up. “He is my brother. We both came here by some... accident. He ran off into woods when I was captured by these Americans.” “So, there is another human out in the woods that you didn’t tell us about?” “No, well, at least we don’t think he is out there anymore. I don’t think he would have survived that explosion, sir. He is more than likely dead." “Well, I am sorry for your loss. However, what exactly did he ‘not do’?” “Vot derʹmo...” Andrei mumbled out. “We were trying to figure out if he had anything to do with the explosion, sir.” “Wait, are you telling me that you actually caused this?” “No, not us! We didn’t do anything! We were trying to figure out if Leyonid had caused it!” Grinch shouted out, trying to defend the group. “And I am telling you, he did not!” Andrei shouted at the top of his lungs at Grinch. “So you di lie to us!” Haybrun said accusingly. “What? No! We didn’t even know he was out there until recently! We saved the Princess from him!” Grinch reasoned. “Hey! We weren’t aiming for those ponies on the road! We were aiming for you!” Andrei shouted. “Then why were you shooting at them?” Truck asked. “They were in the way! You cowards were using them as a shield!” Andrei shouted out to them with disgust. “That’s a lie! We were nowhere near them!” Frost argued. “Shut the fuck up!” Sandman yelled out at the top of his lungs, causing everyone in the room to go dead quiet and attracting the attention of the every other pony in the house. “We are getting absolutely NOTHING accomplished here by arguing back and forth like a bunch of school children! None of us know what the hell happened out there! For all we know, it could have been a WMD or a goddamn UFO crashing! None of us know! So, instead of sitting her pissing each other off to the point of wanting to shoot each other, we should just drop the whole goddamn conversation and sit in complete silence until the Princess comes back!” By this time, everypony was crowded around the door to the bedroom, listening on the conversation. Everyone in the room was exchanging glances between one another until they eventually managed to sit back down. At almost the same time, a flash of light was emitted from outside the house, quickly followed by a knock at the door. Haybrun approached it and slowly cracked it open, only to have the rest of it swing open into his head. In the doorway stood Princess Luna. “Princess Luna? What are you doing here? Where is Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked. “She is in an emergency meeting with the rest of the council. We have a serious threat to the safety of Equestria.” “Why? What’s happening?” Sandman asked. “Ahh, you must be the humans. I am sorry we can’t meet under better circumstances, but you must come with me, as well as the Elements.” “Where are we going?” “To Canterlot. Celestia believes it is the only place in which we can keep you, or for that matter, anyone safe now.” “Why? What is going on, ma’am?” Haybrun asked. There was a pause. After a few seconds, she let out a long sigh. “Cloudsdale is gone.” The ponies sat in complete silence. The humans exchanged glances, not exactly sure what that meant. “WHAT? What do you mean GONE?” Rainbow asked angrily, flying up directly in front of the Princess. “It’s not there anymore. Apparently it was caught within the range of that blast. We can’t find it anywhere. The only remnants of it we found were some of the white pillars that had fallen and shattered on the ground. The landscape below it was charred and destroyed.” “But.. but… That’s my home! That’s where I was born! That’s… that's where my parents live! Was there anyone alive? ANYONE?” “I… I’m sorry… but our scouts didn’t see anypony nearby. However, these were just a couple of scouts. We are sending more out as we speak to search the area.” Rainbow Dash slumped back to the floor, unable to speak, her gaze falling to the floor. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she tried her best to contain them. “Rainbow…” Twilight started, putting a hoof on the distraught mare’s shoulder. She didn’t react. “Rainbow, it’s going to be okay… I’m sure that your parents are fine.” “Yeah, ahm sure that they are all fit as a fiddle and headin' on back here to make sure that you're ok!” Applejack joined in. Everypony else just stared at Luna, mouths agape, unable to comprehend this information. An entire city… gone? Impossible… “P-Princess, how can this happen? It c-can’t be true. H-How could s-something do that? W-Wipe out an entire city?” Rarity asked, complete disbelief written all over her face. “I don’t know. I’m sorry, but I MUST get you all back to Canterlot immediately.” “Ma’am, two of us are hurt and need rest. How are we to move them over such a far distance?” “Don’t worry, just bring them outside.” “Very well, ma’am.” With that, the group of ponies exited the house with the guards, leaving the Apple family, excluding Applejack, behind. After a few minutes, the humans exited the bedroom to see that Rainbow Dash was still standing in her spot, locked in place. Twilight was trying to get her to move. “Rainbow, come on! We got to go!” Twilight shouted, but there was no reaction. Only a blank stare in return. All of a sudden, Rainbow just burst out into tears and slumped down to the floor. Twilight laid down next to her, trying to comfort her. “Rainbow, it’s okay. Everything is going to be fine.” “How… how do you know?!” Rainbow mumbled out in anger. “How do you know they are safe? How do you know nothing happened to them?” She managed to choke out. “I just know. I promise you, everything is going to be fine.” “Jesus… what have we done? What did we do?” Sandman thought to himself as he slowly passed by the two ponies. Twilight raised a hoof and pointed towards the door, signaling them to get out. Following her order, the humans made their way outside. Luna was standing in the middle with everypony else standing around her. “Where is Twilight and Rainbow?” Rarity asked as she looked around. “Inside… don’t go back in. She had a meltdown.” Sandman responded. “Who, Rainbow?” “Yeah, she burst out into tears and we got ushered out.” “Well, what did yall expect? She hates yall and she just heard that her family is probably dead, along with the fact that her home town was destroyed.” Applejack almost screamed at the group of humans, but managed to keep it to an angry whisper. “It doesn’t surprise me in any way. However, I probably wouldn’t have reacted quite like that. Crying over anything won’t get anything done, but I would have been overwhelmingly sad if that had happened to me.” “Oh really, how would you have reacted then?” Rarity asked, a hint of anger in her words. “I have seen some horrible shit in my life. After a while, you start getting used to it. You start becoming numb to your feelings. Forgive me if I come off cold when I talk. It’s because this isn’t any different than our world now. Death and violence. It seems to follow me everywhere...” At that moment, Rainbow and Twilight both walked outside. Rainbow had her head hanging low, staring at the ground. “Are we all accounted for?” Luna asked, taking a quick head count. “I believe so Princess.” Haybrun responded. “Good, let us go then.” With that, Luna’s horn ignited and the world around them slowly faded away into blackness. When it came back into focus, they were standing in what appeared to be a giant foyer. Columns of white went parallel with one another with beautiful craftsmanship. “Whoa, what did you do?” Frost asked, as he tried to balance himself. “Okh, ya dumayu, chto ya syeĭchas stoshnit...” Andrei mumbled to himself. “I teleported us to Canterlot. It was the only way to travel here ast enough, and with your injured.” "Great... fun..." Truck mumbled, trying to keep down his lunch. “Ok, where do we go now ma’am?” Sandman asked. “You are going to be split off into separate wings of the castle. The humans will be given a room in the East Wing, and the Elements will be given one in the West Wing. Haybrun, you and the guards are to stay with the humans. Others will be sent with the Elements.” "Yes, Princess.” Haybrun responded with a bow. “Which room?” “Second floor, fourth room on the left. I will escort the Elements to theirs.” “Ok then, let’s go humans.” With that, the group set off to their respective destinations.